Starting mechanism for automobiles.



C. E. WILSON.

ITARTING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.5.1915.

1,171,375. Patented Feb. 8,1916.

INVENTQR Char/a5 E. 140/500.

AT TO R N EY tures for actuating scribed traverses the armature windingto produce CHARLES E. WILSON, 0F WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, AS SIGNOR T0WESTING- HOUSE ELECTRIC SYLVANIA.

AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, .A CORPORATION OF PENN- STARTING MECHANISMFOR AUTOMOBILES.

To all whom it may concern:

.-B it known that I, CHARLES E. WILSON, a citizen of the United Statesand-a esident of Wilkinsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in StartingMechanism for Automobiles, of which the following isa specification.

My invention relates to starting mechanisms for automobiles andparticularly to such mechanisms as embody dynamo-electrio machineshaving reciprocating armapinions into and out of operative connectionwith the shafts of internal combustion engines.

My invention has for its object to provide a simple arrangement wherebythe armature of the dynamo-electric machine may be reciprocatedlongitudinally with a strong force while little or no torque isefi'ective to ro-.

tate the armature.

Motors having displaced armatures have heretofore been proposed, butthey possess certain disadvantages in that they require the use ofcomplicated switching mechanisms and resistors to-prevent rotation ofthe armature until coacting gear wheels are placed in mesh. Thisarrangement is necessary because, in the displaced position of thearmature, the torque is sufiiciently high to rotate the armature at acomparatively high rate of speed before the gear wheels are completelymeshed.

It is also diflicult to effect the meshing of considerable pressurbetween the coacting teeth. the switching mechanism above deis employed,little or no current the gear wheels when there is lateral When a torquefor rotating the armature, and the gear wheels may be readily meshedbecause there is little or no lateral pressure between the coactingteeth to retard their relative slidable movements.

According to the present invention, I provide an electric motor having aplurality of field-magnet windings forproducing magnetic fields in whichthe poles are arranged in different combinations.

When the fieldmagnet windings are connected in series relation, thepolarity of two of the field-mag net poles is reversed. The result is toproduce suc "anarrangement of poles that substantially ture to rotate itin opposite directions. The

Specification of Letters Patent.

,viewof circuits my lnvention. Fi

the motor frame.

. armature and with contact segments 22, 23 and equal forces act uponthe arma- Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

Application filed January 5, 1915. Serial No. 588.

tablish driving connections between the motor and the engine shaft.WVhen the several field-magnet windings are connected in parallelrelation, the normal arrangement of poles is produced, and full torqueis applied to the armature.

The details ofmy invention will be described in connection with theaccompanymg drawings in which Figure l is a side view, partially inelevation and partially in section, of a portion of an engine fly wheelwith my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic andapparatus embodying 3 is a View, similar to Fig. 2, of a modi cation.

eferring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, a fly wheel 1, only a ortion ofwhich is shown, is provided with ear teeth 2. An electric motor 3 has afiel -magnet frame 4 which may be secured to any suitable statlonarypart of a motor vehicle. The motor armature 5 is arranged forlongitudinal movement in bearings 6. A spring 7, which is interposedbetween one of the bearings and a collar member 8 at the rear end of thearmature shaft 9, tends to maintain the armature in a displaced positionrelatively to the field-magnet frame, as illustrated. he commutatorcylinder 10 is of such length that it is always in engagement withcoacting brushes 11 that are supported by The armature shaft 9 isprovided with a pinion 12 which coacts with the gear teeth 2 tooperatively connect the motor to the engine shaft.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2, the motor is provided withfield-magnet poles 13, 14, 15 and 16. The poles 13 and 14 are energizedby field-magnet coils 17 and 18 that are in series relation with themotor each other. The poles 15 and 16 are energized by field-magnetcoils l9 and 2'0 that are similarly connected. The

motor armature is provided with a suitable four-pole winding inaccordance with the number of field-magnet poles. Theelectricalconne'ctions of the motor are. controlled by a controller 21which comprises 24 to coact with the terminals of the coils 17. 18, 19and 20. The controller 21 comprises also a pawl-andratchet mechanism 25which prevents the of the parallel circuit comprises to its centralposition operation of the controller'in a reverse direction and therebyinsures that the cycle of operations cannot occur in reverse order. Tostart the engine, the controller 21 is actuated in a clockwisedirection, as viewed from the right, to effect the engagement of thecontact segment 22 with the contact finger 26 and 27. A circuit is thencompleted which extends from the ungrounded side of the battery, throughcontact finger 27, contact segment 22, contact finger 26, coils 20, 19,17 and 18 and the armature Winding to ground. The several fieldmagnetcoils are energized by the circuit just described to produce an abnormalarrangement of the polarity of the several field-magnet poles. Forexample, if the pole 13 is a north pole and the pole 14: is a southpole, the pole 16 is a north pole and the pole 15 is a south pole. Itwill be noted that, in this arrangement, the two north poles and the twosouth poles are adjacent to each other. Since the armature is providedwith a four-pole winding to correspond to the number of field-magnetpoles, the production of a magnetic field, which is substantially theequivalent of a two-pole field, operates to produce substantially equalforces for rotating the armature in opposite directions. As a result,the armature rotates slowly, if at all. In practice, however, it isdesirable to insure aslight rotation to aid in meshing the coacting gearteeth and this result is accomplished by providing one of thefield-magnet polesv with a winding having a larger number of turns thanthe other poles. In the present case, the coil 17 is represented ashaving more turns than the other coils. The forces produced by the polesof opposite polarity will therefore be slightly unbalanced, and a slightrotation will occur. Because of the low resistance of the circuit,aheavy current traverses the motor windings, and the field-magnet polesare energized to exert'a strong magnetic force to shift the armature andthereby efiect the meshing of the pinion 12 with the gear teeth 2.Further movement of the controller 21 effects the engagement of thecontact segments 23 and 24 with the contact fingers 26, 27, 28 and 29.The circuit thus completed extends from the ungrounded side of thebattery through contact finger 27, contact segment 24, contact finger29, through the field-magnet windings in parallel and the armaturewinding to ground. One branch the fieldmagnet coils 17 and 18, and thesecond branch comprises the coils 19 and 20, contact finger 26, contact.segment 23, and contact finger 28. In the second position of*"thecontroller, the connections of the coils 19 and 0 are reversed, and thepolarity of the respective poles 15 and 16 will be opposite thatdescribed in connection with the first position of the controller. Thatis, the pole 15 is now a north pole'and the pole 16 is a south pole. Thedynamo-electric machine now operates as a four-pole motor, under normalconditions, to crank the engine. When the engine starts under its ownpower, the motor circuit may be broken by the actuation of thecontroller 21 in a clockwise direction to disengage the contact,segments 23 and 21 from the corresponding contact fingers. The armature5 will then be returned to its displaced position by the spring 7 whichhas been under compression. The ratchet mechanism 25 insures that thecircuit cannot be completed through the several field magn'et coils inseries to again shift the armature. This action would occur if thecontroller were actuated to its off position in a counter-cloclnvisedirec' tion. If the operator fails to open the mo tor circuitimmediately after the engine starts, the motor will be driven at arapidly increasing speed. The counter-electromotive force of the motoris thereby increased to reduce the current traversing its wind ings tosuch a value that the longitudinal pulls exerted by'the field magnetpoles is less than the force of the spring 7 whereupon the armature isshifted to its displaced position, and the pinion 12 is disengaged fromthe gear teeth 2. It is obvious, therefore, that no damage may be causedby a failure to open the switch at the proper time.

A modification of my invention is illustrated in Fig. An electric motor3, the armatureof which is indicated at 5, is-provided with field-magnetcoils 17, 18, 19 and 20 arranged in the same manner as in the motor ofFig. 2. The mechanical construction of the motor corresponds, in detail,to the motor 3 of Figs. 1 and 2. The circuits of the several windingsare controlled by a controller 30 that is provided with a ratchetmechanism 25. v

In the first position of the controller, a contact segment 31 engagescontact fingers 29 and 32 to complete a circuit which extends from theungrounded side of thebat tery, through a resistor 33, contact finger32, contact segment21, contact finger 29, field magnet coils 18 and 17and the armature winding to ground. The effect of the circuitjustdescribed, which is of high resistance, istocause the motor torotate slowly. Since the movement of the controller 30 may becontinuous, the circuit is completed for a short time only, and is thenbroken.

In the second position of the controller, the contact segment 22 engagescontact fingers 26"and- 27 'to connect the several fieldmagnet coils inseries with the motor armature and with each other. The arrangement ofthe poles thus produced is similar to motor then rotates, b

that described in connection with the first position of the controller21 of Fig. 2, and the armature 5 is shifted longitudinally, While itrotates, only because of its inertia.

The running circuit of the motor is completed in the third position ofthe controller in which the connections of the coils l9 and 2 0 arereversed and they are connected in parallel with the coils l7 and 18.

It will be noted that the principal difference between the system ofFig. 3 and that of Figs. 1 and 2 is ,that the-fmotor circuit istemporarily completed in order to impart a slight rotating torque to thearmature. The ecause of its inertia, While the pinion 12 is being meshedwith the gear teeth 2 but no torque is exerted by the field-magnetwinding. The system of Fig. 3 differs in no other material respect fromthat above described.

It will be understood that the number of field-magnet poles and theeffects produced by the controlling mechanism are illustrative onlyandthata fiiotor maybe employed parting from the spirit of my invention.

I claim as my invention: 1. .In a starting mechanism, the combinationwith an electric motor having fieldmagnet windings and a longitudinallyshiftof means for controlling the current in said windings to rearrangethe polarity of the field-magnet poles for shifting said armaturelongitudinally and to cause the field-magnet poles to have their normalpolarity for rotating said armature.

controlling the 2. In a starting mechanisnnthe combination with anelectric motor having fieldma-gnet windings and a longitudinallyshiftable armature, of means for successively current in said windingsto any convenient number of poles] simultaneously opposing rearrange thepolarity of the field-magnet poles for shifting said armaturelongitudinally and to causethe field-magnet poles to have their normalpolarity for rotating said armature.

3. In a starting mechanism, the combination with an electric motorhaving fieldmagnet windings and a longitudinally shiftable armature, ofmeans for energizing said windings to produce an abnormal arrangement ofthe field-magnet poles for shifting said armature longitudinally andto-produce a normal arrangement of said fieldmagnet poles for rotatingsaid armature.

In a starting mechanism, the combination with a pair of coacting gearwheels, of means for actuating one of said gear wheels into and out ofmesh with the other, said means comprising a dynamo-electric machinehaving a longitudinally movable armature connected to the movable gearwheel and means for changing the polarity of at least one of-thefield-magnet poles for shifting said armature longitudinally and itsrotation.

5. In a starting mechanism, the combination with a pair of coacting gearwheels, of means for actuating one of said gear wheels into and out ofmeshwith the other, said means comprising a dynamo-electric machinehaving a longitudinally movable armature and a controlling means fortemporarily completing] a circuit for the dynamo-electric machine,producing an abnormal arrangement of the polarity of the field magnetpoles and producing the normal'arrangement of the polarity of thefieldmagnet poles.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 23rd dayof Dec.

CHARLES E. WILSON. Witnesses:

BAYARD D. KUN-KLE, B. B. HINEs.

